MORRIS: Wanted: 10 million skilled workers

Nonpartisan campaign hopes to prepare next generation of nation builders

From the crews erecting the new World Trade Center in New York City to hospital technicians and aircraft mechanics, America relies on its skilled workers to provide essential services.

In our business, we couldn’t keep electricity flowing to our 5.3 million customers without skilled workers such as line mechanics and power plant operators. When a power plant needs maintenance, we call upon highly skilled individuals such as electricians, pipefitters, boilermakers and dozens of critical disciplines.

Particularly problematic is the fact that many of our nation’s skilled workers are members of the baby boom generation and are rapidly approaching retirement; some have retired already. According to a recent survey by Manpower, skilled trades rank No. 1 in the nation for “difficulty of filling jobs due to the lack of talent.”

Income Inequality vs. Wealth Inequality

It’s easy to get lost in the cacophony of numbers and statistics thrown around by all sides in the income inequality debate. Just remember that wealth concentration has declined among top earners, even according to the very economist the left generally cites to argue that income inequality has grown. That wealth data reflect a decline in concentration at the top over the past hundred years should indicate that reaching conclusions about inequality using income data is at best an incomplete assessment.

Why the Tax Policy Center is wrong: The United States can slash its corporate tax rate

By James Pethokoukis

November 2, 2011, 3:28 pm

My advice to congressional tax cutters is to cut the corporate rate whether or not they can “pay” for it. And to at least 26 percent. There is good reason to believe that the U.S. rate—currently at 35 percent—is way, way on the wrong side of the Laffer Curve, as AEI’s Kevin Hassett and Alex Brill point out in a 2007 study:

Stop Blaming China For the Loss of Manufacturing Jobs

Indeed, as a recent USA Today editorial noted, “American companies are making lots of stuff”, and in fact they’re producing “about 80% more than in 1979 with nearly 8 million fewer workers.” Some would like to blame China here, but in truth they should be cheering the very innovations that attract job creating investment by virtue of companies doing more with less.

I'm the executive vice president for a steel casting trade association, the Steel Founders' Society of America.
I've got a crazy wife, five crazy children, three crazy people that married into the family, and two crazy fun little grandsons.